Roofing materials for coop and run?

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HalcyonFlorida

HalcyonFlorida

In the Brooder
6 Years
Mar 29, 2013
37
1
32
We are building a combo coop/run. We are enclosing the sides and bottom with hardware cloth, but for the roof, my husband thought that the plastic sheeting would be sufficient. I somehow think a raccoon would be able to chew through that, and after investing all the time nad money in the hardware cloth for the sides and bottom, wonder if we shouldnt put it on the top too.

Anyone else have plastic sheeting (tuftex brand) on the roof without wire? Maybe we should use tin instead?
 
well if you want your chickens getting lots of sun you should have plastic roof or other wise you can use tin which is stonger but they wont get as much sun
 
You can also nail a plywood board across or use fence boards . I'm building my coop and considering that for the run closest to the coop, so that they have more shaded place besides just under the coop house.
 
Plastic sheeting isn't strong enough and won't hold up long. I'd get the corrugated aluminum panels. All you need is some cross pieces like 2x4s depending on how strong you want it. But the aluminum panels are strong in themselves. You get those deck fasteners I think they're called. They have a little rubber gasket so there's no water leakage. The nice thing about the aluminum is that they don't rust or wear and you can always reuse them, even paint them and patch unneeded holes. The only problem I found is that they are probably a pain to cut. I chose Home Depot because they had precut 6 foot panels. Most are 8 or 12 just depends on what you want. But for the money alone, I'd chose the aluminum. Just make sure the panel is the right length for the pen or house (either that or you can install them like a big shingle). But it's best to get precut. A little slop is always good.
 
Last edited:
HalcyonFlorida said:
We are building a combo coop/run. We are enclosing the sides and bottom with hardware cloth, but for the roof, my husband thought that the plastic sheeting would be sufficient. I somehow think a raccoon would be able to chew through that, and after investing all the time nad money in the hardware cloth for the sides and bottom, wonder if we shouldnt put it on the top too.

Anyone else have plastic sheeting (tuftex brand) on the roof without wire? Maybe we should use tin instead?
Click to expand...
Agree!!

Plastic - not a good idea at all...might hold rainwater which could be a problem.
Pics would help....not sure what kind of sizes your talking about.
 
Plastic needs to UV stabilised and Opaque might work clear is not a good idea as you could create a greenhouse inside the coop
You should also consider if you need it to be insulated in the winter.

For my summer tractor I used Onduline sheets. There are four in this picture each is 2M long
I fitted them length ways and get good ventilation through the corrugations.

They are a bitumen type product so will never rot and far more robust than roofing felt

I have also used Onduline on another flat shed roof for the actual water proofing but that als ohas an insulated plywood base as well.

 
HalcyonFlorida said:
We are building a combo coop/run. We are enclosing the sides and bottom with hardware cloth, but for the roof, my husband thought that the plastic sheeting would be sufficient. I somehow think a raccoon would be able to chew through that, and after investing all the time nad money in the hardware cloth for the sides and bottom, wonder if we shouldnt put it on the top too. 

Anyone else have plastic sheeting (tuftex brand) on the roof without wire? Maybe we should use tin instead?
Click to expand...


Hello there fellow Floridian. I think the hardware cloth on the bottom & sides are a great idea. I burried 1/4" hardware cloth under my coop for predator protection too. For roofing I used 1/4" plywood, roofing paper & then shingles over that. Also don't forget the drip edge. I was originally going to use the plastic corrugated roof, but the shingles were stronger and a lot cheaper. They're a bit more work to put on, but you'll do it once and know that you have a steong heavy roof. With the heat and sun we get here in FL, I don't feel the need for transparent panels.

Post some pics of your progress. I still need to post some updated pics of mine, but you can lok at my coop to see what I did.
 
My coop has shingles. The run is covered with hardware cloth.. I am planning on covering the run with Tuftex plastic roofing in addtion. I want shade for them and cover should there be rain.. I chose to use hardware cloth on top because i am worried about raccoons and other stuff. Plus i am pretty sure that wrens, sparrows and other tiny birds could wedge themselfs through if there was no HWC. (mice too)
Our dog house has tuftex only roofing, so far it withstood our basset, pug and doxie playing, three winters , two moves and numerous storms. Still looks pretty good.
 
DallasCriftins said:
Plastic needs to UV stabilised and Opaque might work clear is not a good idea as you could create a greenhouse inside the coop You should also consider if you need it to be insulated in the winter. For my summer tractor I used Onduline sheets. There are four in this picture each is 2M long I fitted them length ways and get good ventilation through the corrugations. They are a bitumen type product so will never rot and far more robust than roofing felt I have also used Onduline on another flat shed roof for the actual water proofing but that als ohas an insulated plywood base as well.
Click to expand...
Wow, that's an impressive tractor coop! Love it, well done!
 
Thanks

It currently has twenty eight of our four week old Chicks in it during the day and we are having great fun catching them in the evening to put them in the brooder
Another couple of weeks and they should be able to stay in it full time

At the moment they are being 'trained' to explore the coop section it is probably all very big and scary to little birdies!
 

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